Limerick nuclear plant awaits permission to use Schuylkill water

LIMERICK — A decision on whether Exelon nuclear can continue to add water from an upstream abandoned coal mine into the Schuylkill River to augment the operations of the Limerick Nuclear Generating station may come as soon as Dec. 5.

That is the next scheduled meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the multi-state quasi-government agency which has jurisdiction over the decision and has delayed for eight years in making a final decision on the experiment.

Listed beyond the 33rd item on the agenda for the next commission meeting, posted on the DRBC web site, is a notice of “other agenda items.”

The last of these makes notice that “the Commissioners also may consider a Resolution to approve Docket D-1969-201 CP-13 for the Exelon Limerick Generating Station (“LGS draft docket”).”

Although anyone who wishes to attend the meeting, held at the DRBC offices in Trenton, N.J., is permitted to sign up to offer comment on the agenda items, the Limerick item is an exception, according to the agenda posted on-line.

“A hearing on the LGS draft docket was conducted on Aug. 28, 2012 and written comments were accepted through Oct. 27, 2012. No additional testimony on this project will be accepted on Dec. 5,” the agenda notes.

The Aug. 28 comments were provided at a joint public hearing in Sunnybrook Ballroom which not only covered the DRBC project, but also included a hearing on renewing a five-year Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection permit which allows the plant to discharge radioactive effluent into the Schuylkill River, a drinking water source for more than one million Americans.

However, the DEP portion of the August hearing has no relevance to the potential DRBC decision on Dec. 5.

That decision relates to the permission Exelon has secured as part of a “demonstration project” to put additional water into the river, some from a reservoir near Tamaqua, and some from the pool of an abandoned coal mine near Pottsville called the Wadesville mine.

The additional water provides Exelon with the opportunity to withdraw an additional two million gallons per day from the river when the river is low. However, the plant’s total monthly withdrawal limit from the river remains unchanged.

As much as 14.4 million gallons per day can come from the Wadesville Mine Pool, water that comes from an abandoned mine pool that is unusual for its lack of acidity.

Public opinion, as expressed at the August hearing, is not unanimous.

Some organizations, like the Schuylkill Headwaters Association, the Berks County Conservancy and the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy, support the move and said at the hearing that Exelon has been a good corporate citizen and that the only impact on the river as a result of the project “has been positive.”

In contrast, Pottstown resident Betty Shank called the Exelon’s Schuylkill Restoration Fund — money contributed to such organizations in direct proportion to how much additional water is withdrawn from the watershed — “a scam,” implemented to distract people from the potential harm the project could cause, as well as to splinter opposition by co-opting environmental groups with grants for their projects.

Marci Dietrich, a local physician, said looking at Exelon’s profits on the stock market, its payments for lobbying and local contributions, shows its efforts to influence such permits for its financial benefit.

As described in the DRBC docket, the permit would, among other things, “provide long-term authorization for water withdrawal and discharge operations based upon experience gained from the LGS Water Supply Modification Demonstration Project and the Wadesville Mine Pool Withdrawal and Streamflow Augmentation Demonstration Project;” as well as “eliminate the current restriction on withdrawals from the Schuylkill River when ambient water temperatures reach 59° F; reduce from 4 days to 3 the travel time required for water from some augmentation sources to reach LGS intakes; modify river and stream monitoring requirements; and continue the Restoration and Monitoring Fund.”

But although a decision on this project may be made Dec. 5, and further public comment will not be accepted, the DRBC is also alerting to the public to the possibility that no decision will be made.

According to the public notice, “in the event that the Commissioners are not yet prepared to consider the LGS draft docket during their meeting on Dec. 5, they will consider a resolution to extend” the authorization “through Dec. 31, 2013 or until the Commission approves the LGS draft docket, whichever occurs sooner.”